The November 2016 ballot could be brimming with weighty ballot initiatives, including measures to legalize marijuana, overturn California’s new vaccine law, raise the minimum wage and restrict what bathrooms transgender people can use.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield listens as Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio speaks to reporters Tuesday after a House Republican Conference meeting. McCarthy is widely expected to succeed Boehner as speaker next month. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

By Noah Bierman September 29, 2015

When Kevin McCarthy spoke at a California Republican convention a few years ago, he regaled the crowd with stories about his tense relationship with Nancy Pelosi: The Democratic leader, he said, greeted him with a sneering “he-llo Kevin” every time she saw him, the way Jerry Seinfeld used to greet his nemesis, Newman.